This is my 400th Review I've written here at Epinions, and although I can't say it's been an even ride this far, it has been a lot of fun. I enjoy reading what other "real people" have to say about products, movies, music, etc...I seem to trust y'all more than I do other "professional" reviewers. Even though given some of your output, you're pretty darn professional already.

For my Number 400, as with my other century marks, I've chosen something near and dear to my Muppety Heart: The Great Muppet Caper. It's my favorite Muppet movie, and permit me a few minutes of your time to tell you why. If it seems like a foam rubber/felt fanboy gush, well, it is. When it comes to the Muppets I have something of a blind spot, having grown up with them and never left them by the wayside as something "childish;" I think they're completely fitting for adult entertainment and are thus game for my devotion.

The Great Muppet Caper came in 1981, following the final season of The Muppet Show. Going out on top was a good move for Kermit and the gang, a move that other programs would have done well to follow (The Simpsons, X-Files, others...). The movie is strangely, the ONLY Muppet Movie directed by Jim Henson, and is a parody of the caper/mystery movies of the 1940s. Since parodies are what the Muppets do best, and since this was pulled off so cleanly, it comes across not just as a parody, but as a great movie in its own right.

So why is this my favorite of the six Muppet Movies? It's quite simple. It makes me laugh. All of them do, but this makes me laugh out loud. Guffaw. Honk. Chortle. Sometimes, things come out of my mouth and nose. It's not pretty, but hey, that's why I've got a DVD player in the privacy of my own home, eh? The Muppet Movie is funny, but has some sentimental parts that slow it down a bit. The Muppets Take Manhattan is funny, but has a lot of recycling from The Muppet Movie. But The Great Muppet Caper? Genius.

Although the Muppets are "playing themselves," it's a little bit different than the Muppet Show (or the first Muppet movie) because of a few hee-larious changes:

*Kermit and Fozzie Bear are identical twins. Kermit's still the green frog, Fozzie the honey- colored bear, but they're twins who are reporters for the Chronicle, and Gonzo is their photographer. In their editor's office, there's a disturbing but very funny photo of their father, a green bear with Kermit's eyes and pointy collar...I hope my kid doesn't look like that.

* Miss Piggy is the receptionist for Lady Holiday (Diana Rigg), a British socialite and clothing designer who is getting robbed blind by her good-for-nothing brother, Nicky (Charles Grodin). Piggy ends up impersonating Lady Holiday for a good chunk of the movie, and this is when she and Kermit meet and fall in love.

The entire movie ends up being a showcase for Miss Piggy, the only film where she really gets to be THE STAR that she's wanted to be ever since growing up on that farm in the Midwest. Although we don't meet her until twenty minutes into the movie, she (at the end of Frank Oz's impeccable arm and voice) steals every scene she's in. This is the movie that made me realize that yes, I AM in love with Miss Piggy. It's sad but true. And I love my wife, but there's something about the pig that just calls to me. She's (in the words of an ex-co-worker) "Sweet Bacon."

Among the highlights of Miss Piggy's performances:

1) There's a scene where she's the center of an amazing dance sequence at a nightclub where she's surrounded by a dozen tuxedo-clad dancers--not since Fred and Ginger hoofed it has there been something so purely joyful as this dance scene. She's lifted up by the dancers, she tap dances on the table, she makes every one in the room fall in love with her. The song begins with Kermit and Piggy singing about their fears of getting into another relationship--this song, "The First Time It Happens," was nominated for an Academy Award.

2) The Aquacade. Midway through the film, Piggy has a daydream that she's the center of an Esther Williams-style water ballet, serenaded by Nicky and Kermit. This sequence includes her swimming underwater, doing scissor kicks (with silver heels on), blowing bubbles through her snout, synchronized swimming with other water ballerinas, and ending with a dive from a platform while wearing a crown of sparklers. An amazing scene, and one guaranteed to bring tears to my eyes from laughter every time I watch it.

3) The Fight. At one point, Piggy has some apologizing to do to Kermit, and in the middle of her scene, squealing for forgiveness, he stops her and says, "you're overacting, Piggy!" And she ends up quitting the movie. In the middle of the scene. One of the things that distinguishes Jim Henson's performance of Kermit is that Kermit DID occasionally lose his temper! His little arms would wave, and he got exasperated with his friends. Of course they eventually made up, but it's one of the funniest parts of ANY Muppet movie.

4) Piggy ends up in prison, and even here she manages to shine, especially in the scene with Kermit visiting her undercover as her lawyer. She eventually breaks out, but man, she even makes those prison denim dresses look good.

Of course, there's more to this movie than just Miss Piggy, or only Muppety pervs like me would love it. The music, while not as poignant as that of "The Muppet Movie," is from Joe Raposo, prolific Sesame Street composer who wrote the words and music for the Sesame Street Theme, C Is For Cookie, Bein' Green, Sing, Doin' The Pigeon, and many other Sesame classics. The music here is great, ranging from classic Astaire-style numbers like "Steppin Out With A Star," sung by Kermit, Fozzie, and Gonzo, to a rockin bluegrassy-dixieland style song, "Happiness Hotel" that introduces us to the rest of the Muppet Gang in a shack-nasty hotel in London.

From a puppetry standpoint, of course, they're the best of the best, and, after astounding audiences in The Muppet Movie by having Kermit ride a bike, they had Kermit, Piggy, and about fifteen other Muppets doing in this one. That, combined with all of the times you see the Muppets standing alone (i.e. not behind a puppeteer-hiding wall, out of camera frame, etc) make this one of the best puppeteered of the Muppet flicks.

There are several running gags, including a fold-out bed that won't stay folded down, the impoverishedness of the Muppets, and a "catch them red-handed....what color are their hands now?"

Something else that makes this one close to my heart is the inclusion of so many of the bit players from The Muppet Show, including The Swedish Chef, Pops, Sam Eagle, Beauregard, Bunsen and Beaker, Lew Zealand (the boomerang fish thrower), Beauregard, and the first film appearance of Rizzo the Rat. One of my favorite tertiary characters, Janice, has some great lines in this one. The blonde spaghetti-haired, big-lipped lead guitar player for Electric Mayhem, her favorite phrase is "fer sure," but she gets a lot more to say in this one, including: "look mother, it's my own life, oookay, so if I wanna live on a beach and walk around naked..." The irreverent chickie also has the only swear word that's been in any Muppet flick, as a line of the "Happiness Hotel" song: "The management is cheerful, though the whole joint's gone to hell..." Love Janice. Not as much as my compadre Byron Summers (whose Epinions ID is rather creatively "ByronSummers"), but still.

The movie is creative. It's funny. Kermit and Piggy's relationship works. Miss Piggy gets to be the star she (and we) always knew she could be, and yet she still gets to get in her karate (not pork) chops. If it's been a while since you've seen The Great Muppet Caper, I implore you to give it another look, now on DVD. In widescreen, the amazing dance (and aquacade) numbers are that much more impressive, and in the big Muppet crowd scenes, you get to see ALL of your friends. It's well worth your time, and because this is seen less often than The Muppet Movie and The Muppets Take Manhattan, it's probably been a while since you've seen it.

Time to check it out, and fall in love with the Pig, the Frog, the Bear, and the...Whatever....again.




Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening